Goldman exec to lead Dallas Fed

A former top executive at Goldman Sachs will take over as head of the Dallas Federal Reserve.

 

Robert Steven Kaplan, Goldman Sachs’s former vice chairman, will replace Richard W. Fisher, officials announced on Monday.

 

After working at Goldman, Kaplan joined Harvard University where he was the senior associate dean of the business school, according to a Dallas Fed press release.

 

“I’m honored to be serving the people of the Eleventh Federal Reserve District and the nation as president of the Dallas Fed,” said Kaplan in a statement. 

Kaplan said that he looks forward “to working with the superb professionals of this bank and throughout the Federal Reserve System in their vital service to the district and the country.”

The big-bank veteran is taking the helm of the Dallas Fed at a time when critics of the central agency — including Fisher — have raised concerns that Wall Street has too much power over the central bank and its regional affiliates.

Fisher frequently raised concerns that the New York Fed in particular had too much power, and there has been a push in recent months to disperse some of the power from the central bank and New York Fed.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby has proposed launching a congressional committee to look into the Fed’s structure.